It's review answering time!

Mdhunter: Thank you!

Guest: This is a very, very interesting question. I can't exactly give an answer to what I have planned for future events. However, the first option could go either way. Anduin is much closer in age to Henrietta than the Germinia Emperor is implied to be, and such an arrangement would be quite interesting, giving the Alliance, and by extension, the Horde, to be more closely involved in Tristain's affairs. At the same time, such an action would likely damage the relations between not just Tristain and Germania, but also Germinia and both factions. Plus, Anduin does have a similar appearance to her true love, which might make things awkward in the long run. Not only that, the Alliance military main force is not only much farther than Germinia's, it's larger and more important military assets would need to cross a large ocean to be of use.

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"I must thank you, Marilyn, for your help," Marlexana bowed slightly at her guildmate, one of the higher ranking members of the Trisgarde. The arcana mage let a sigh of annoyance, flipping back his long, black hair. The massive amounts of arcane energy around him had slowly begun turning is fel green eyes to a more purple hue.

"Oh, don't thank me. I wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't for the fact that somebody was already being sent to the same place you're headed to," Marilyn glared slightly, unamused by his companions antics. Or that she was going to the Tristain Academy of Magic on business. That alone was enough to make him envious. Seriously, so much new magic to discover, and a Warlock of all people was getting the first look.

Heck, she was told to arrive several days in advance, which meant she would have time to peruse a great many spell books before the meeting between Horde, Alliance, and Tristan's Regent Lord, Princess, and several Noble Houses. Thankfully, she choose a time when somebody else was already making a trip. A priest, no less. He had hoped that standing near the Violet Citadel would help they stick out from the darkness just a bit, but it seemed like his hopes were for nothing.

"Salutations!" A cheery voice sang from below. Marilyn nearly jumped back, as Mar stifled a giggle. Oh course, they just had to send a gnome.

"Kithkiris Fastgear?" he asked, looking down at the small humanoid, offering his hand to shake. With a smile still on her face, the gnome shook his hand, causing him to wince. Despite their small stature, gnomes were quite physically impressive. He wasn't going to get used to the bone crushing handshakes. He should, given the amount of gnomes he worked with.

"Yes! It's a pleasure to meet both of you!" Kithkiris seemed quite happy. That seemed to be a trait with gnomes, practically being fonts of literal optimism.

"Are both of you ready to leave?" Marilyn asked, earning a nod from both. Well, here went something.

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Professor Colbert was quite happy that class was in session when the portal finally opened. The newly discovered Azeroth was hot topic among the students, though every little information was known to them. Of course, that news was overshadowed by the attack by another party at the beginning of negotiation between Alliance, Horde, and Romania. Very little information came out of the Holy Capital, beyond the races that made up these two coalitions, and the fact they were permitted to engage in negotiation with the other Brimiric countries, most likely for trade.

A few pieces of information that had been sent to both Tristan's government and the academy itself. The largest piece of information being the nature and identity of the attackers. Much of the reason that a Netherlord had been called upon, was due to her expertises were supposed to be second to none.

He was sure that Headmaster Osmond had his own reasons to call on such a knowledgable figure, seeing as that he had requested the Netherlord arrive a few days in advance. It was only a matter of time before the existence of this Legion broke out. Did he want knowledge from expert about how best to defend the school, or possibly ward it from demonic intruders? Or did he want such an individual on hand? A class that taught students about demon's, and how best to counter and avoid them, would alleavate some concerns.

Though if the latter was true, more concerns would be added. Like how they would convince one who was a known adventure, explorer, and clearly, high ranking official around. As the swirling portal flickered to life, forming a glowing purple circle with what looked like a city in the background, two people stepped through.

Colbert noticed the blood elf first. Her red hair was tied back in a ponytail that came to around her shoulder. Her green eyes seemed to shimmer in the sunlight, but were flickering with her own power. Most of her skin was covered by black and purple robes, only leaving her hands and face exposed. Her long ears were still, in spite of the breeze.

He couldn't miss the small dagger strapped to her waist. It had no sheath, and appeared to be made of some type of purple crystal, with the hilt inlaid with gold. Nor could he ignore the floating skull next to her. A demon skull, that was as much as he knew, complete with bony horns coming from it's forehead and jaw covered in ornamental gold. A few books were chained to her robes, but they seemed to be held in place by magic, not metal.

She had come with another though. It took only a moment for Colbert to notice the small Gnome with her. White robes inlaid with gold, and a small, crystalian staff in hand. A staff that was glowing under it's own power, with most of it colessing at the top, in the form of a figure he had never seen before.

This Gnome had to be the priest they had requested to look at Louise. Since her failed summoning ritual, his young student had remained unconscious. She was suffering what appeared be an extreme case of willpower exhaustion, despite her failure of the summoning ritual. It puzzled him, and it certainly puzzled any of the water mages they brought in. They already sent a letter home to Louise's parents by this point.

Seeing that both had been called upon for the impending negotiations, this was their last chance to improve Louise's condition before Karin arrived. Nobody was really holding onto hope though. Not even Kirche and Tabitha, who both spend a surprising amount of their free time at Louise's bedside. The sudden compassion of Kirche toward her classmate had surprised him slightly. Colbert was more than aware of both the Zerbast and Valliere rivalry, a rivalry that thus far both had kept alive.

"I'd like to thank you both for coming," Colbert said, looking at the two as the portal winked out behind them. The elf merely nodded while the Gnome smiled happily. "Ms. Marlexana, Siesta will be your servant during your stay here, she will show you to your room when you are ready to do so. Ms. Fastgear, if you would, please follow me to the infirmary." Out of the corner of his eye, he could have sworn he saw elf frown slightly. He would have to deal with the consequences of that later. Right now, his students came first.

Which left any extremely frightened Siesta alone with a very unamused elf.

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Only a handful of seconds were needed to tinker with her Hearthstone was all she needed to make sure it would return herself to the academy at any time. That still didn't make the situation any more awkward than it actually was. Marlexana could easily see the fear on the girl's face. For once, it was not because of the fact she was a warlock, but rather, an elf. She wasn't exactly pleased, but you take a race that has been trained to fear one race, then slap another race similar, but ultimately different, running into issues was expected.

"It's Siesta, yes?" Mar asked, attempting to break the ice. The girl only gave a short nod, staring down at her feet. What did human children like, anyway? No, correction, she wasn't a child, Siesta had a job. So, it was time for the tried and true method of experimenting.

"To the library, then?" Marlexana finally broke down. Maybe some reading might help clear her thoughts. Hopefully, the girl was able to read herself. If all went well, maybe they could bound over literature.

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Marlexana's eyes were wide open the moment they stepped into the library. Shelves of books, from those to simple reading to tomes of arcane lore and the path to magical power. The thought of what knowledge she could gleam made her esthetic. Due to the talks and time spent rebuilding, not to mention the damage to the structure itself, she hadn't been able to gain access to the Holy Rominian library, much to her dismay.

Thal'kiel even felt glee, pushing the distance he could go to the absolute limit. It almost reminded her of child attempting to reach out for candy, while caught in the parent's grasp. Normally, she would love nothing more to grab as many spells books and tomes as possible and immediately begin cracking down. Even if she couldn't use spells held within, it would give her a much greater idea of what Halkgenia's magic was capable of, and who knew, maybe a spell or two would give her a fresh idea.

However, she was accompanied by someone else. One who may not take so kindly to mindless research, categorizing, and potential experimentation. Actually, the experimentation would likely be saved for outdoor work. Marlexana pursued through the bookshelfs, trying to find a none spell related book to read. By some strange miracle, Tristan's speech was more sophisticated dialect of Orcish, and it's literature, while similar, was more like Common in terms of sentence structure. Thankfully, it didn't have Orcish's biggest quirk, the fact that tone and volume could often change the meaning of words in small, but radical, ways.

It took a few minutes, but she found one. The History of Tristain was it's title. Marlexana grinned feeling the weight of the book in the palm of her hand. Not the heaviest book she'd ever seen, but it would keep her occupied for at least a couple hours.

All that was required now was finding a table. That wasn't a difficult task, seeing a library was built with students in mind. She found one, abetly one that appeared recently inhabited, if the inkwells, feathers, and paper were an indicator. Only one half of the table was in use, though. It's likely two students had a joint project, and had to abandon it temporarily. So she simply sat down directly across from the mess. Marlexana didn't look at any of scrall, but she was interested in the students who clearly showing this much dedication. None of the other tables had such a mess.

Of course, that still left the Siesta problem. The girl kept her distance, keeping close enough to attend to what Marlexana could order her to do, but was outside of arm's reach.

"If you want to sit down and pull up a book, you can," Mar said, attempting to break the silence. Siesta looked completely surprised by such a remark. By what, she wasn't able to tell.

"Are you certain?" Siesta asked, trying to avoid eye contact as much as possible.

"Yes. If anyone has a problem, they'll have to take it up with me, and given the fact I am a guest on a diplomatic meeting of the utmost importance, that is something they don't want to do," Mar smiled. While she didn't prefer to throw her weight around politically, it would be worse to get aggressive with children. Why she stopped using her family name was for that exact reason. Mar wanted to build her own name, and her own legacy, not one connected to her family. Family was important, yes, a fact reinforced every single day due to two of her relatives being dead, but walking.

She just wanted to not have her family's glory to be stepping stones for her own. If was going to go somewhere, it would be under her own power, nobody else's.

It had worked. After many years of dedication, work, and blood, she was a Netherlord, one of the most powerful Warlocks to ever exist. Her mastery of demons was unquestionable, the cursed arts, without hardly peer, and fel flame was an extension of herself.

Her turn to the dark arts was her decision alone, one she made will Silvermoon still burned from the undead hordes that ravaged it. She dived headfirst into dark tomes and horrid books, seeking out power. Marlexana had found that, and far more. Unlike many in the craft, who assumed that the fel was an easy path to power, Mar saw it as to be understood. It wasn't until the Cataclysm that she learned to test her magical power.

Her prior arcane studies had proved useful in her research of the fel. She recorded the chaos, learned from it, molded it. Even if fel was chaos itself, it was also magic. Certain words created certain spells. Certain spells, when performed correctly, would create a certain result.

Marlexana stepped into the world after the Cataclysm, to find more dark works and improve her craft. This world was already shaped by heroes. Her brother and sisters were making their own footprints in the world, slaying mighty monsters, delving deep into ruins and dungeons for gold and other rewards. Countless others, from simple guards to grand adventures, raised their weapons against the darkness.

These siblings were the legacy her shoes were always compared to. Their story had yet to be complete, yet it already overshadowed her own. From the Eastern Kingdoms, to the shattered Outland, to the frozen Northrend, she heard their tales, their adventures. Actions they performed still had an impact on this world, even after the world shaking Cataclysm.

By the time of Pandaria's discovery, she was more than ready. She and countless others stepped onto the shrouded continent. For the first time, her and her older siblings would be equal in their legend. Or so Mar had thought. In reality, her relatives, and their legacy, still hung over her head. Even if she was on the same continent, they had established themselves. They had roots, connections, and a way to use them. She had a name she dared not use, out of both fear of ridicule and insult to pride.

It wasn't until the second opening of the Dark Portal that her name had actually become something. She had spent her time studying whatever she could in Pandrea, even if it was scrapes compared to the best of the best. But with the floodgates of the Iron Horde turned to Azeroth, all who were able answered the call.

Truly it wasn't until the assault of Blackrock Foundry that things truly began to turn around. Unbroken Rage lost it's warlock, and it was in desperate need to a new one. Ultimately, she accepted. However due to her lack of knowledge on how exactly the larger scale instances work, she had swiftly became paste on most encounters. Thankfully, she was a fast learner. She relished in the power that the now forbidden metamorphosis spell would allow her to realish in.

It wasn't horrendously long until history repeated itself. Garrosh's actions had only slowed down the inevitable. Gul'dan took the Iron Horde, corrupting it with demon's blood once again. The day the gates of Hellfire Citadel opened, Unbroken Rage, alongside hundreds of other guilds, rushed in to meet the darkness within its halls. It took days for the strongest, most coordinated guilds, to lay low the abominations within. It took them months.

All the while, the hunt for Gul'dan was on. She offered what aid she could, but even if her skills had drastically improved, the older Warlock was on a whole different level. He was easily considered the most powerful mortal Warlock in history.

During the months between then and and the first assault on the Broken Shore, she spent much of her time practicing her craft. Most went into the studying of long and short term demon summons. As it turns out, one could use an incantation to bind a demon for a short time, while placing a spell that unsummons once the binding agent fades. And with Metamorphous becoming forbidden, her notes had proved pivotal for the newfound arts used by Demonology Warlocks. As such, she was invited into help summon a demon by the Council of the Black Harvest after the Broken Shore disaster. Which created another disaster of summoning a Pit Lord they couldn't control, which captured them all, and only by luck she managed to escape, kill the demon, use it's power, and rebuilt the Council.

Marlexana's skill as a demon summoner allowed her ultimately ascend as the Horde's Netherlord. She still fought alongside her guildmates whenever she could, but things had changed a little. Maltuk, now Warchief, was no longer able to lead them into battle. He had other battles to fight that required his own direct, personal attention. But they were heroes just the same, and they had a job to do. Even if many of them were medium to high ranking members of their respective orders.

It took long enough for Siesta to find a book. Intentionally, she supposed. Ultimately, she was unnerved. This, blood elf, the sister of their Regent Lord, was not like many of the nobles she had meet. There was pride the her, yet, it felt like a pride that was deserved, of something earned. She wasn't given much information, only the order to follow the woman's commands.

All that meant was this woman was important. But it wasn't till she saw her that Siesta began to understand. Marlexana's eyes blazed with sickly green power, long ears showing her pridefully her elven blood. One mistake, and Siesta could be snuffed out. So far, none of her actions had showed anger, merely asking questions. The only order she had really given her was to find a book, and talk. To very much doable orders, all things considered. She was just thankful her parents made her learn to read and write.

Unfortunately, there weren't many books for her to read. Many of the tomes that took up shelf space were of magical nature, and were useless to her. Most of the remaining contents were things like history, which didn't have much interest to her. Siesta favorite books were of the more, personal, variety.

Finally, she just chose a book that was outside of the spell section. The elf was already in action, eyes scouring her book for information, brow furrowed in concentration. The floating skull was constricted to merely orbit around, almost like some type of halo. If anything unnerved her more than the elf, it was that artifact. It's vacant eye sockets followed her, as if still alive. As if the being that birthed it still resided within. It horrified her to no end. Yet the elf remained as calm ever.

"So, what is your homeland like?" Siesta asked as she sat down, still somewhat unnerved. Almost on an instinctual level, Marlexana seemed to flinch, before letting out a sigh.

"The woods would be beautiful, this time of year, I suppose, just coming into bloom. Quel'thalas's open fields full of flowers and golden grass. Of course, the spires we created, testament to what is the birthright of the Sin'dorei, and Silvermoon, the shining jewel of our nation, rebuild and reforged when the Scourge tried to burn it all to the ground," Marlexana said, lost in thought. "Our lands were so beautiful, before the Scourge. Now, it's just a struggle to make them whole again. Even with the connection to their master severed, the dead still raise. It may take a lifetimes before the wounds healed."

Siesta paused, frightened. She just brought up something that clearly had an impact on the Warlock.

"I'm sorry, I didn't," Siesta panicked. She opened her mouth ounce, and it already proved it was a mistake.

"Of course you didn't know. While the desecration of my homeland and lose of my family and friends still saddens me, the lose only adds fuel to my strength," she stated, eyes locked in an intense glare, though with who or what was unknown. "Besides, us Sin'dorei are not dead yet, and there has been some measure of progress in the Ghostlands. I may not live to see it, but my homeland will be whole again."

Siesta nodded. Though her mind began to wonder, just exactly how old was she? Her, I may not live to see my homeland whole, thing kind of just made her seem like her age was advanced, despite the fact she only appeared to be in her twenties.

"If you don't mind me asking, how old are you?" Siesta asked, curiosity slowly getting the better of her. Bringing up painful memories of this elf's homeland hadn't got rejected, and while you weren't supposed to ask a ladies age, she simply had to know.

The warlock loud out a laugh that seemed to echo throughout the library, disturbing whoever would be within. "I'll indulge that curiosity of yours, only if you indulge mine!" Siesta could have sworn, if only for a moment, the warlock's eyes seemed to flicker toward her chest.

"After all, I did just turned seventy this year," the elf's eyes held a twinkle, as Siesta's mouth simple dropped. She was older than her grandparents! And Mar only looked a few years older than she was! Was this an example of elven longevity?

"Seventeen," Siesta managed to respond. The elf raised an eyebrow alone. Siesta didn't think she looked older or younger than she actually was. Or was the slight surprise due to other reasons.

"Siesta, what do you know about power?" Marlexana's question took the girl off guard. Siesta paused. She knew the answer, if it was a noble asking the question. Anything else would be considered heresy. But the warlock clearly wasn't looking for that answer. Yes, she had said magic was a part of her blood, a part of her birthright. But that didn't mean magic was the only form of power. The elf took her silence as being reluctant to answer.

"Power simple leads to power. Power is power. Now, the type of power, and where it comes from, well, that matters far less than one might expect," Marlexana said, as if quoting someone word for word. "My mentor said that, back when I was studying the arcane arts. Though he did try to turn himself into a lich, so his differentiation isn't entirely correct."

"Personally, power takes shapes of it's own. Power you gain, come from what you are willing to put into it. Talent only gets an individual so far," the warlock seemed to be in her element as she spoke. "Some power, however is much more trivail in nature, but it's power nonetheless. For example, power gained from having larger ears means it is much easier to hear someone sneaking around."

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I think I'll let this chapter end here. Less action, and much more dialogue and character based. I hope I did well with Siesta, all things considered.

I hope you all enjoyed, and I hope to see you next time!